Province awards major GO expansion project to Aecon-led group
The province’s initiative to expand two-way, all-day GO Rail service across the Greater Golden Horseshoe took a major step forward on April 19.
Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney announced that province has awarded a contract to design and modernize key infrastructure across the network to support the service. The project will include adding more than 200 kilometres of new track and electrifying over 600 kilometres of track. A new electric train fleet will also be introduced that could reach speeds of 140 kilometres per hour between stations.
“Building Ontario through critical infrastructure projects like GO Rail Expansion, will unlock the potential of the economic engine of our province – the Greater Golden Horseshoe,” said Mulroney. “To keep up with population growth, our government is making historic investments in transit, roads, bridges and highways, including the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413. Together, these projects will help fight gridlock, make travel easier and boost Ontario’s economy.”
Wining the contract is ONxpress Transportation Partners, a group that includes Aecon Infrastructure Management, Alstom Transport Canada, Hatch Corporation, WSP Canada, FCC Construccion S.A., and Deutsche Bahn International. The group was identified as the project’s firs negotiations proponent back in February.
ONxpress Transportation Partners will now enter a 24-month development phase to work on design, early investigations, schedule optimization and key initial construction work. Its scope of work will include the delivery of overhead electrification, a new electric train fleet, upgraded train control systems, and expanded tracks and structures along the corridors to allow for potentially significantly higher frequencies than pre-pandemic service. The project will also include the operations and maintenance of the GO rail network.
"Over the last two years, Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx have adapted our contracting approach for these important On-Corridor works,” said Infrastructure Ontario President and CEO Michael Lindsay. “The result is the awarding of a contract that will allow us to work collaboratively with our partners to implement an expanded and modernized GO transit system in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area that meets our future transportation needs."
Construction is expected to start in 2023 with incremental opportunities to add service starting in 2025 or 2026.
The province is also moving ahead with the remainder of GO Rail Expansion’s Early Works as well as Off-Corridor Works projects, which include building new corridor infrastructure and improving and expanding existing infrastructure and stations.
Investment in the broader GO Rail Expansion program will generate 8,300 annual job equivalents in the first 12 years of construction and delivery.
By 2055, GO Rail will become one of the busiest railways in North America with over 200 million annual riders.